It's been nine years.

[PTWB]

55. I only scratched the surface.

The OP began yelling and screaming in all caps bold, so I didn't feel like it would be worthwhile to go much deeper.

Revamp the NFA because it is ineffective and burdensome. I do not suggest liberalizing the registration of full autos, at all. But full autos aren't the only items on the NFA--the NFA also regulates short barrel shotguns, short barrel rifles, and sound suppressors (among others). There are arbitrary restrictions here that are essentially meaningless.

For example, you can purchase a short barrel AR-15 pistol with a brace that is essentially identical to a short barreled rifle but does not require registration. For all intents and purposes they're the same gun.

Another example is that you can purchase an AR-15 pistol and convert it into a rifle by adding a buttstock (assuming the barrel length is 16 inches or greater), but cannot purchase an AR-15 rifle and convert it into a pistol by removing the buttstock, even though in both configurations the firearm is identical in every way. The only difference is whether the box 'pistol' or 'rifle' was checked at the time of purchase.

These types of antiquated regulations do not enhance public safety and are simply annoying and burdensome to lawful gun owners. There is no reason to keep them so why not barter with them?

My proposal would be to add minimum standards (training, testing, background check, & set renewal periods) at the federal level for states to enact to grant concealed carry licenses to residents. Any state that meets or exceeds those minimum standards would then enjoy national reciprocity for such licenses. We do the same thing with driver's licenses. This accomplishes two things: it raises the bar to get a concealed carry license (which I have) and it protects licensed carriers in states that otherwise may not recognize their license.

Additionally, I'd mandate that every gun transfer is subject to a background check, whether that is through a dealer or private. We'd have to streamline this process for cases where a family member is inheriting a large number of firearms from a collector, for example, but it wouldn't be hard to do. This would eliminate the 'gun show loophole' and give us another effective tool to combat straw purchasing.

I’d also add a federal safe storage law mandating minimum standards for gun storage in and outside the home.

In exchange for the universal background checks and safe storage law, I'd suggest removing sound suppressors from the NFA and treating them like firearms--subject to the now universal background checks. I'd also suggest rewording much of the language in the NFA to remove the ambiguity (the ATF currently defines a shoestring as a machine gun, sometimes, for example) and clarify exactly what constitutes a pistol, a rifle, any other weapon, and modernize the entire registration process for NFA items so that these things don't take over a year to register.


I'd also change the $200 per NFA tax stamp to a one time $200 lifetime NFA license tax. The current tax disproportionately negatively impacts minorities and the impoverished.

While we are talking about background checks, I'd also add more red flags for violent misdemeanors and give folks who are subject to those red flags a streamlined and free-of-charge process to dispute those flags. We want the red flags to be effective and comprehensive without violating due process.

Some folks may balk at the delisting of suppressors from the NFA and of national concealed carry reciprocity, but I think they're reasonable bargaining chips and are worth trading for universal background checks and minimum standards for concealed carry. At the end of the day we'll have meaningful gun control and gun owners will be happier.